From NJ to MA

We took 6 days to go from our marina in Jersey City, NJ to Fairhaven, MA. We could have done it more quickly but we were in a combination of vacation mode and ohcrapwecantbelieveweareactuallydoingthis mode. So, with that in mind, here is a recap of our trip:

Day 1: Jersey City to Oyster Bay, NY.

We didn’t sail at all as the little wind we had was almost completely on the nose the entire day. It was beautiful and sunshiny otherwise. The kitties settled down-ish once we were underway. Lola goes to sleep in whatever small, protected place she can find. Winston comes into the cockpit, yells at us, and usually settles down on my lap.

Winston looks so pleased to be our cat, doesn’t he?

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Good news and bad news

This long absence from blogging has been brought to you by Busyness! That’s the bad news. The good news is that we actually did it! We cast off our dock lines and sailed away from our slip!

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Hammer Time

I seem to have a song for just about everything; most of the time I keep things to myself and just sing in my own head. But sometimes, especially when I’m a bit tired or distracted or feeling like lifting my own spirits, I will sing. And by “sing” I don’t mean a melodious tune. Nope, I belt out like a sideshow carnie barking for the moose lady. It doesn’t matter whether I know the words, I sing. Needless to say Peter isn’t a huge fan of when these moments hit me.

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Feelin’ Flaggy

Did you know there are rules and etiquette for flags on boats? It makes sense since there are rules governing nearly every aspect of our lives and boating is positively steeped in tradition. Of course it is important to know these things, but you can’t know what you don’t know until you know, you know?

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The night the boat cried

I’ve gone on a bit in the past about cooking and cookbooks. Recently I have found it remarkable that I am referencing my cookbooks less as I become more comfortable with cooking aboard. I sometimes look at them for inspiration but I seem to pull a lot of “recipes” out of thin air based on what we have in the cupboards at the time. What is this world coming to?

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Electronics Revisited

I have thrown around electrical terms in the past, amps for instance, like I know what I’m talking about. I don’t. I thought I was quite clever with my whole look at the needle on the ammeter and that’s how much electricity is flowing through the system strategy. Turns out I need a much better strategy and it involves maths.

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Climbing the mast or, what’s a topping lift?

One of the first things that new neighbors said when we arrived two summers ago was where’s your topping lift? Uh…what? So much to learn… A topping lift is a line that runs from the top of the mast to the back of the boom so it doesn’t crash down on the heads of sailors. We don’t have one.

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Boats, boats, boats!

Here in New York City we get the best boats. Case in point: Spirit of Bermuda, a three-masted sloop modeled after an 1831 painting of a Royal Navy sloop-of-war. This beautiful ship was tied up just two docks away from us this summer. We rowed over in our little inflatable dinghy, chatted with the crew, and checked her out.

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Twas bilgy and the slithy toves…

My boaty learning curve has been steep and it’s not over yet. Take, for instance, a bilge. Two years ago, if someone had said the word bilge to me, I would have guessed it came from Lewis Carroll’s Jabberwocky:

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Steam cleaning and then some

This spring I steam cleaned all the cushions in the boat. It was worth it though it nearly broke my will to live a clean life.

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